Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a press release concerning a new case HUD charged in Oklahoma. Specifically, HUD alleged that the landlords of a rental property violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by rejecting the emotional support animal request submitted with a veteran with disabilities. As I have written many times, responding to reasonable accommodation requests from disabled residents is a critical part of apartment (or in this case, rental home) management. As far as I can tell, this is the first complaint brought by HUD since the new administration took over last month.
Here, it is claimed that a combat veteran with a mental disability, and who has an emotional support animal, submitted a request for a reasonable accommodation. As a part of the accommodation request, the resident also submitted a medical verification for the animal. The complaint asserts that the landlord refused to waive the otherwise due and payable $250 pet fee. Under applicable law, of course, service and/or emotional support animals are not pets and those fees are to be waived as a reasonable accommodation in order to permit the disabled resident to fully enjoy his or her home.
Now, always remember there are two sides to every story and I am making no judgment on the merits here. Also, I have not seen if the medical verification was likely legitimate (as contrasted to something simply purchased over the internet with a credit card). Nevertheless, recall that disability remains the most common basis of fair housing complaint filed with HUD (and its fair housing partner groups). Indeed, in 2016, HUD and its partners reviewed just under 5,000 disability-related complaints, or more than 58 percent of all fair housing complaints. Let's work to ensure your community is not next.
So, does that mean you have a approve every reasonable accommodation or reasonable modification request? No. But it does mean that every request needs to be evaluated and responded to.
Just A Thought.
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